DEATH OF INFANT SON

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 196, 17 May 1944, Page 8

DEATH OF INFANT SON

Murder By Woman Alleged TRIAL AT WANGANUI Dominion Special Service. WANGANUI. Muy Hi. Described bv the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. N. li. Bail), as a pathetic cusp from every point of view, the trial began in the Supreme Court. Wanganui, today, ol Grace .Rosaline Robertson, adding machine operator, aged -26, charged belore Mr. Justice Smith with the murder ot her infant son .near -Mangaweka on l>eceuib?r 18 last. . I'lie Crown alleged that accused, who is a single woman, threw the child, aged 14 days, from a relief express as it was passing a point three miles north o£ Mangaweka at 9J5 p.m. ' ' , Accused, for whom Mr. Goldstine, ‘Auckland, is appearing pleaded not guilty On two occasions she collapsed in the dock 'and a short adjournment was necessary. . “The jury must, bear in mind that it takes a great deal to justify the taking of human life,” said Mr. Bain, in opening his address. The case was pathetic, but full recognition of the secredness oz human life was vital to the count ry s social structure. Evidence would show that ou December 20 last the body of a male European child without clothes was found near the railway liue. It was fully developed and normal. The finding ot the body was fully advertised in the Press, but" for a time no information came to hand. . Inquiries were subsequently made in all parts of New Zealand for the whereabouts of all male children born about that time. As a result it was learnt that on December 4 a male child was born in Nelson Public Hospital to a Mrs. Grace Jones, who left Nelson by air on December 18, travelling to Auckland by the express train that night but arrived at her destination without the. baby. The Crown would also show, said Mr. Bain, that Mrs. Grace Jones was the accused. On her way south in July accused stayed at the Y.W.C.A, Hostel in IVelliugton, where she became acquainted with a'Mrs. Cameron. Passing through Wellington ■on December 18, accused again saw Mrs. Cameron, who would say that she accompanied accused to Wellington Railway Station and saw her depart with the baby on the 3.42 relief express. Accused had a double seat in a second class car and> two men who boarded the train at Palmerston North and sat near her would describe her demeanour. Evidence too would also be given by a woman who wag sub-matron at the Y.W.C.A. Hostel in Auckland, that when accused booked in On the morning of December 19 she was without the child. This witness would also describe accused ■as being bright and cheerful at the time. Four days after her arrival at Auckland. accused obtained employment . and remained in this work till interviewed by the police. Ip a statement to detectives she said she had a meal nt Marton Junction, adding that the baby later became unsettled and that in a fit of distraction she opened the door and threw it from the train. Accused registered the birth in Auckland on February 4, calling the child Donald lan Jones. Evidence was given along lines similar to that in the lower court. Several witnesses. cross-examined by Mr. Goldstine, said accused appeared fdiid of the child. The Crown’s ease was concluded late this afternoon. .